1. When the most recent national census was completed in 1990,
the population of the United States of America had reached 248,709,873.
The Census Bureau estimates current population to be 258,745,000
(1 September 1993) and increasing by some 3 million persons per
year. By the year 2000, the United States population is expected
to be 276,241,000. In recent years, the population has shifted
from the North-East and Midwest to the South and West. Since 1960,
the population in both the North-East and Midwest has decreased
approximately 5 per cent and increased approximately 5 per cent
in the South and West.

2. Females outnumber males, comprising 51.2 per cent of the
population. The median age of all people is 32.9, with 22 per
cent under the age of 15 and 12.4 per cent over the age of 65.

3. The United States is home to a wide variety of ethnic and
racial groups; indeed, virtually every national, racial, ethnic,
cultural and religious group in the world is represented in its
population. Overall, 80 per cent of all people are white. Among
the minority groups, 12 per cent are African Americans, 9 per
cent are of Hispanic origin, 3 per cent are of Asian or Pacific
Island origin, and less than 1 per cent are Native Americans.

4. Historically, the United States has been a nation of immigrants.
According to the 1990 Census, nearly 20 million people (or more
than 12 per cent of the population) were not born in the United
States but call it home. In 1992, 973,977 aliens were granted
lawful permanent resident status. This figure was inflated as
a result of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA),
which provided a one-time opportunity for significant numbers
of long-term illegal residents and special agricultural workers
to gain permanent residence status. The primary countries of origin
for legal immigrants were Mexico, Viet Nam, the Philippines, and
the countries formerly constituting the Soviet Union. The Immigration
and Naturalization Service (INS) estimates that another 300,000
people immigrated illegally. A recent INS analysis indicated that
as many as 3.2 million people now reside illegally in the United
States; approximately 40 per cent (1.3 million) live in California
and 15 per cent (485,000) live in New York. Although the IRCA
provided legal status to many Mexicans living in the United States,
approximately 30 per cent of illegal aliens are Mexican. Another
9 per cent are from El Salvador and 4 per cent from Guatemala.
In total, the INS indicates that illegal immigrants constitute
about 1.3 per cent of the United States population.

5. About three quarters of all people in the United States
live in urban areas, with "urban" defined as 2,500 or
more residents in an area incorporated as a city, village, or
town. While almost 30 per cent of all whites reside in rural areas,
minorities reside predominantly in urban areas (87.2 per cent
of all African Americans, 95 per cent of all Asians, 91 per cent
of all Hispanics).

6. English is the predominant language of the United States.
However, of approximately 230 million people over the age of 5,
some 32 million (approximately 14 per cent) speak a language other
than English. Seventeen million people speak Spanish; 4.5 million
speak an Asian or Pacific Island language. French, German and
Italian are among the next most common. Fourteen million people
indicate they do not speak English "very well". The
highest percentages of non-English speakers are found in the States
of New Mexico, California, Texas, Hawaii and New York.

B. Vital statistics

7. According to 1989 figures, overall life expectancy in the
United States was 75.3 years. Women tend to live longer than men,
with a life expectancy of 78.8 years, compared with 71.8 years
for men. Whites have a longer life expectancy than minorities.
For example, the life expectancy for whites is 76 years, but for
African Americans it is only 69.2, and only 64.8 for African-American
men. However, studies show these figures to be improving for all
racial groups. Preliminary 1990 figures show the life expectancy
for all of the United States to be 75.4, 76 for whites, and 70.3
for African Americans.

8. The total fertility rate for the United States, according
to 1991 figures, was 2,073 births per 1,000 women aged 10-49.
In other words, women in the United States on average have 2.1
births over the course of their child-bearing years. This is statistically
equivalent to the replacement level of 2.0. Once again, there
is significant disparity between racial groups: the white fertility
rate is 1,885, with the rate decreasing, but the African-American
fertility rate is 2,583, with the rate increasing. Overall, nearly
30 per cent of all births in the United States are currently to
unmarried women.

9. The overall mortality rate in 1992 was 853.3 per 100,000,
slightly lower than the previous year. The infant mortality rate
was 9.8 deaths per 1,000 live births. However, there is a significant
disparity between the rates for African American and whites. For
example, the rate for whites was 8.2 per 1,000, but the rate for
African Americans was more than double that, at 17.7. Lack of
adequate prenatal care, socio-economic conditions, drug and alcohol
abuse, and lack of education are cited as factors contributing
to the difference. A similar pattern exists for the maternal mortality
rate: the overall rate was 7.9 maternal deaths per 1,000 births,
but the rate for whites was 5.6, compared to the 18.4 rate for
African Americans.

10. There are 95.7 million households in the United States,
of which 70 per cent contain families. However, married couples
with children make up only 26 per cent of all households. In recent
years, owing to the increasing acceptance of divorce and single-parenthood,
more children are living with only one parent. Among all children
under age 18, 27 per cent lived with a single parent in 1992,
more than double the 12 per cent of children who lived with only
one parent in 1970. Most children who live with one parent live
with their mother. For instance, in 1992 approximately 88 per
cent of children who lived with one parent lived with their mother.
The proportion of children living with one parent varies according
to race. Among children under 18, 21 per cent of white children
lived with one parent, whereas 57 per cent of African-American
children and 32 per cent of Hispanic children lived with one parent.
Children in every group were far more likely to live with their
mother than their father. Among children living with their mother
or father only, 84 per cent of white children, 94 per cent of
African-American children, and 89 per cent of Hispanic children
lived with their mother. In total, approximately 3 per cent of
children under 18 live with a relative other than their parents
or with a non-relative. While similar data is not available for
Asians, in 1992 approximately 15 per cent of Asian family households
were headed by women.

11. In 1992, it was estimated that there were 2.3 million marriages
and 1.2 million divorces in the United States, in both cases slightly
fewer than in the preceding year.

C. Socio-economic indicators

12. For the first quarter of 1993, the per capita income in
the United States was $23,987 in current dollars. In mean money
earnings, males earned $34,886 compared with $22,768 for females
in 1990. The gross domestic product (GDP) in billions of current
dollars was 6,038.5 for 1992 and 6,327.6 for the second quarter
of 1993. The Consumer Price Index, frequently used to measure
inflation, has decreased steadily since 1989 from 5.4 per cent
for 1989-1990 to 2.8 per cent for the period August 1992 to August
1993.

13. In 1992, 67 per cent of the population 16 years and older
(totalling 117,598,000) was in the workforce, including 16.8 million
working mothers. The overall unemployment rate was 7.4 per cent.
For men, the figure was 7.8 per cent, compared with 6.9 per cent
for women. Whites' rate of unemployment was 6.5 per cent, African-Americans'
rate was 14.1 per cent, and Hispanics' rate was 11.4 per cent.
The minimum wage in 1992 was $4.25 an hour. Women and minorities
continue to be over-represented in low-paying jobs.

14. In 1992, 14.5 per cent of the population was below the
poverty level, the federally established figure below which a
person is considered to have insufficient income for his or her
basic needs. For a household of four in 1992, this was equal to
$14,335. Of all households headed by females, 34.9 per cent were
below the poverty level. The poverty rates for white, African
American, and Hispanic households headed by women were, respectively,
28.1 per cent, 49.8 per cent, and 48.8 per cent. Among children,
21.9 per cent lived below the poverty line, including one in four
children under six years old.

15. The rate of poverty varies significantly among racial groups
in the United States. While 11.6 per cent of whites (9.6 per cent
when Hispanics are not included) are below the poverty line, 33.3
per cent of African Americans, 29.3 per cent of Hispanics, and
12.5 per cent of Asian/Pacific Islanders fall below the poverty
level. Among the poor in 1992, 73.2 per cent received some form
of federal welfare assistance. Assistance may include cash as
well as non-cash benefits. In 1992, 42.7 per cent of the poor
received means-tested cash assistance. In 1989, the United States
spent $956 billion on social welfare expenditures for an average
of $3,783 per person in current 1989 dollars.

16. According to the 1990 Census, 78.4 per cent of the population
had four years or more of high school education, 39.8 per cent
had one or more years of college, and 21.4 per cent had four or
more years of college. Males and females achieved similar levels
of education, the primary difference being that 24.3 per cent
of males versus 18.8 per cent of females received four or more
years of college. Educational levels differed more widely, however,
on the basis of race. Rates for high school and four or more years
of college were 79.9 per cent and 22.2 per cent for whites versus
66.7 per cent and 11.5 per cent for African Americans, and 51.3
per cent and 9.7 per cent for Hispanics. In 1992, 63 per cent
of the most recent graduates of high school had enrolled in colleges
and universities.

17. Approximately four fifths of all American women have completed
high school. Additionally, women constitute 54 per cent of the
students in undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree programmes.
More specifically, 55 per cent of undergraduate students are women,
53 per cent of graduate students are women, and 39 per cent of
professional degree students are women.

18. The last nationwide studies of the literacy rate were in
1982 and 1986. According to the 1982 study, adults in the United
States over the age of 20 had a 13 per cent illiteracy rate. The
1986 study concerned young adults between the ages of 20 and 24,
measured by standards of fourth, eighth, and eleventh grade reading
levels. The results showed that 6 per cent were illiterate at
a fourth grade level, 20.2 per cent were illiterate at an eighth
grade level, and 38.5 per cent were illiterate at an eleventh
grade level.

19. However, the methodology on which these studies were based
has proven inadequate to indicate how well the tested individuals
can actually use their reading and writing skills. Accordingly,
the United States Department of Education has recently developed
a new method for evaluating functional literacy by testing prose,
document and quantitative literacy. In a study of 26,000 individuals
conducted in conjunction with authorities in 12 States, almost
half of the participants scored in the lowest of five levels in
each of the three literacy categories. Less than 5 per cent of
participants scored in the highest skill levels. The survey found
that older adults, who have typically completed the fewest years
of schooling, demonstrated lower literacy skills than other age
groups. Among participants scoring in the lowest skill levels,
62 per cent had not completed high school and 35 per cent had
eight or fewer years of formal schooling; 25 per cent were born
in another country; and 26 per cent had some physical or mental
condition that prevented them from fully working. Almost half
of these participants lived in poverty. Adults in prison were
disproportionately likely to perform in the lowest two levels
of literacy skill.

20. Freedom to worship and to follow a chosen religion is constitutionally
protected in the United States. As a result, literally hundreds
of religions and sects exist. The population is overwhelmingly
Christian, although obtaining accurate statistical data with regard
to religion is extremely difficult, as this information is not
included in the decennial census or otherwise collected by the
Government. The available figures are often rough, based on self-reporting
studies which leave great room for error. According to the 1992
Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, practising church
members make up 59.3 per cent of the general population. Of those
church members, the major groups include Protestants (chiefly
Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians,
Pentecostals and Mormons) (49.4 per cent) and Roman Catholics
(38.6 per cent). Jews and Muslims make up about 2 per cent each,
and followers of Eastern religions comprise about 3 per cent.

D. Land

21. In its totality, the United States of America covers 9.4
million km2, including the 48 coterminous States which span the
North American continent, Alaska, Hawaii and the various insular
areas in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.

22. The geography of the continental United States is widely
varied, with great mountain ranges, flat open prairies, and numerous
rivers. On the Atlantic shore, much of the northern coast is rocky,
but the middle and southern Atlantic coast rises gently from the
sea. It starts as low, wet ground and sandy flats, but then becomes
a rolling coastal lowland somewhat like that of northern and western
Europe. The Appalachians, which run roughly parallel to the east
coast, are old mountains with many open valleys between them.
To the west is the Appalachian plateau underlain by extensive
coal deposits, and beyond is the Central Lowland, which resembles
the plains of eastern Europe or the Great Plains of Australia.
The Central Lowland is drained chiefly by the vast Mississippi-Missouri
river system, which extends some 5,970 km and which experienced
disastrous flooding during 1993. In the south, the Gulf Coastal
Lowlands, including Florida and westward to the Texas Coast, include
many lagoons, swamps and sandbars in addition to rolling coastal
plain.

23. North of the Central Lowland, extending for almost 1,600
km, are the five Great Lakes, four of which the United States
shares with Canada. The lakes are estimated to contain about half
of the world's fresh water.

24. West of the Central Lowland are the Great Plains, likened
to the flat top of a table which is slightly tilted upward to
the west. They are stopped by the Rocky Mountains, the "backbone
of the continent". The Rockies are considered young mountains,
of the same age as the Alps in Europe or the Himalayas in Asia.
They are high, rough and irregular in shape, with peaks exceeding
4,200 metres above sea level. Through the Rockies runs the Continental
Divide which separates drainage into the Atlantic Ocean from drainage
into the Pacific Ocean.

25. The land west of the Rockies is made up of distinct and
separate regions. One region encompasses the high Colorado Plateau,
in which the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River is cut, 1.6 km
in depth. Other regions include the high Columbia tableland to
the north, the Basin and Range Province to the south, the Sierra
Nevada mountain range, and at the border of the Pacific Ocean,
the Coast Ranges, relatively low mountains in a region with occasional
earthquakes. Death Valley, located in eastern California and south-western
Nevada, contains the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere, 86
metres below sea level.

26. The Cascade Mountains and the Sierra Nevada Mountains,
close to the west coast of the continent, catch the largest share
of the rain off the Pacific Ocean before it can go inland. As
a result, there is too little rain for almost the whole western
half of the United States, which lies in the "rain shadow"
of the mountains. In a great part of that territory, farmers must
depend on irrigation water from the snows or rains that are trapped
by the mountains. Most of the western half of the country, with
the exception of the Pacific North-West States, receives less
than 50 cm of rainfall a year. Regions in the eastern half receive
at least 50 cm, and often much more, through moist air masses
from the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean that travel inland.

27. Along the western or Pacific coast, the temperature changes
little between winter and summer. In some places, the average
difference between July and January is as little as 10 C. The
climate along the northern part of this coast is similar to that
of England. However, in the north central part of the country,
summer and winter are vastly different. The average difference
between July and January is 36 C, and more violent extremes are
common. In the eastern part of the United States, the difference
between summer and winter is also distinct, but not nearly so
extreme. Near the south-western and south-eastern corners of the
country, the climate is mild in winter, but in summer the temperature
may reach equatorial levels.

28. Natural vegetation ranges from the mixed forests of the
Appalachians to the grasslands of the Great Plains, from the conifers
of the Rocky Mountains to the redwood forests of California, the
cacti and mesquite of the south-western deserts and the subtropical
pines, oaks, palms, and mangroves of the Gulf and southern Atlantic
coasts.

29. The variations in temperature within the continental United
States have had a marked effect on the country's economy and living
standard. There is a long crop growing season along the south-east
coast. This is also true in several small strips and pockets to
the west where crops like grapes grow well during a large part
of the year. In some of the cooler climates, animals and produce
such as apples, wheat and corn thrive. Subtropical climates in
parts of the United States allow for particularly long growing
seasons. Citrus fruit is grown in Florida, California, Arizona
and Texas. Sugar cane is grown in Louisiana and rice in Arkansas,
California, Louisiana and Texas. Cotton is grown throughout the
south-eastern United States as well as in Texas, Arizona and California.
As a result, the United States produces a large range of agricultural
products. Approximately one half of the land is occupied by farms,
with dairies important in the north and north-east, livestock
and feedgrains in the Midwest, wheat in the Great Plains, and
livestock on the High Plains and in the South.

30. Located at the extreme north-western corner of the continent
and separated from the 48 contiguous States by western Canada,
Alaska is the largest State (1.5 million km2) and the only one
extending longitudinally into the Eastern Hemisphere. Alaska includes
two major mountain chains, the Brooks Range in the north and the
Alaska Range in the south, as well as the highest point in the
United States, Mt. McKinley (6,194 metres above sea level). The
two ranges are separated by a Central Plateau through which the
Yukon River flows. The northernmost part of the State contains
the Arctic Slope. With thousands of offshore islands, Alaska has
54,552 km of shoreline. Alaska is one of the least populous States
(in 1992, only Wyoming had a smaller population), but indigenous
people constitute over 15 per cent of the total.

31. The Aleutian Islands extend 1,930 km into the northern
Pacific Ocean from the Alaskan Peninsula and include some 150
islands of volcanic origin totalling 17,666 km2. The population
of 8,000 is largely indigenous.

32. Hawaii, the fiftieth State, comprises a chain of some 130
islands representing the peaks of submerged volcanic mountains
extending across 2,400 km in the North Pacific Ocean. The main
islands (Hawaii, Maui, Kahoolawe, Lanai, Molokai, Oahu, Kauai
and Niihau) are located at the south-eastern end, approximately
3,800 km from the mainland. There are several active volcanoes,
including Mauna Loa (4,169 metres) and Kilauea (4,205 metres).
The climate is generally subtropical; Mt. Waialeale on Kauai is
the wettest spot in the United States, with an average annual
rainfall of 1,168 cm. The population exceeds 1.1 million and is
of diverse origins: 20 per cent are Native Hawaiians of Polynesian
and Tahitian descent, 25 per cent Japanese, 12 per cent Filipino,
and 29 per cent Caucasian of American, European, and South American
lineage.

33. Guam, a self-governing territory of the United States,
is located approximately 9,600 km from the mainland in the western
Pacific Ocean. The largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands,
it is 48 km long and encompasses 541 km2 of land. The highest
point is Mt. Lamlam (405 metres above sea level). The population
totals 146,000, of which 47 per cent is Chamorro, 25 per cent
Filipinos and 20 per cent stateside immigrants.

34. The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands includes
an archipelago of 16 islands stretching some 750 km in the Western
Pacific, approximately 2,400 km east of the Philippines. The three
main islands are Saipan, Tinian and Rota; the total land mass
is 477 km2. The population of 49,000 is largely of Chamorro descent.
The principal industry is tourism, although many residents engage
in subsistence agriculture and copra export.

35. The most southern United States jurisdiction is American
Samoa, an unincorporated territory of seven small islands at the
eastern end of the Samoan Island chain in the South Pacific Ocean,
midway between Honolulu and Sydney, Australia. They include Tutuila,
Aunu'u, the Manu'a group, Rose Island and Swains Island, covering
199 km2. Volcanic and mountainous, and surrounded by coral reefs,
the islands retain much of their original Polynesian culture.
The population of 53,000 is composed of United States nationals
approximately 90 per cent of whom are Samoans with the remainder
being primarily Tongan or other Pacific Island origin.

36. Other United States dependencies in the Pacific Ocean include
Wake Island (and its sister islands Wilkes and Peale), an atoll
in the central Pacific with a population of 300 (mostly United
States government personnel with no indigenous population); Midway
Islands (including Sand and Eastern Islands) in the northern Pacific
with no indigenous population; Johnston Atoll, with a total area
of 2.8 km2 and no indigenous population; Howland, Jarvis and Baker
Islands, which are uninhabited and administered by the Department
of the Interior; Kingman Reef, which is uninhabited and administered
by the United States Navy; and Palmyra Atoll, privately owned
and administered by the Department of the Interior.

37. In the Caribbean, Puerto Rico is a self-governing commonwealth
located at the eastern end of the Greater Antilles. The main island
is largely mountainous with a surrounding coastal plain; Cerro
del Punta in the Cordillera Central is the highest elevation,
at 1,325 metres above sea level. The main island extends 153 km
east-to-west and 58 km north-to-south, and encompasses approximately
9,100 km2. Puerto Rico enjoys a mild tropical climate but is subject
to hurricanes. The population of 3.8 million is largely Hispanic,
descended from Spanish conquerors and slaves. Some 2.7 million
Puerto Ricans reside on the mainland. The primary economic activities
include tourism, light manufacturing and agriculture.

38. Some 60 miles to the east of the main island of Puerto
Rico lie the United States Virgin Islands, the westernmost group
of the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies. The three largest are
St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix; altogether, the territory
covers some 352 km2 of land. The highest point is Crown Mountain
on St. Thomas, with an elevation of 474 metres. The climate is
subtropical, and the principal activities involve tourism, light
manufacturing and agriculture. The population totals 98,000, of
which 85 per cent are African Americans. Off the western tip of
Haiti is Navassa Island, uninhabited and administered by the United
States Coast Guard.

II. GENERAL POLITICAL STRUCTURE

A. Republican form of government

39. The United States of America is a federal republic of 50
States, together with a number of commonwealths, territories and
possessions. The United States Constitution is the central instrument
of government and the supreme law of the land. Adopted in 1789,
the Constitution is the world's oldest written constitution still
in force, and owes its staying power to its simplicity and flexibility.
Originally designed to provide a framework for governing 4 million
people in 13 very different former British colonies along the
Atlantic coast, its basic provisions were so soundly conceived
that, with only 27 amendments, it now serves the needs of some
250 million people in 50 even more diverse States and other constituent
units which stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.

40. Although the Constitution has changed in a number of respects
since it was first adopted, most of its basic principles remain
the same as they were in 1789:

The will of the people forms the basis of governmental legitimacy,
and the people have the right to change their form of national
government by legal means defined in the Constitution itself.

The three main branches of the federal government (the executive,
legislative, and judicial) are separate and distinct from one
another. The powers given to each are delicately balanced by the
powers of the other two. Each branch serves as a check on potential
excesses of the others.

The Constitution stands above all other laws, executive acts
and regulations, including treaties.

All persons are equal before the law and are equally entitled
to its protection. All States are equal, and none can receive
special treatment from the federal government. Within the limits
of the Constitution, each State must recognize and respect the
laws of the others. State Governments, like the federal government,
must be republican in form, with final authority resting with
the people.

Powers not granted to the federal government are reserved to
the States or the people.

41. The Constitution and the federal government stand at the
peak of a governmental pyramid which includes the 50 States and
many hundreds of local jurisdictions. In the United States system,
each level of government has a large degree of autonomy. Disputes
between different jurisdictions are typically resolved by the
courts. However, there are questions involving the national interest
which require the cooperation of all levels of government simultaneously,
and the Constitution makes provision for this as well. By way
of example, the public (government-funded) schools are largely
administered by local jurisdictions, adhering to statewide standards
even at the university level. Private schools are also generally
required to meet the same standards. Nevertheless, the federal
government also aids the schools, as literacy and educational
attainment are matters of vital national interest. In other areas,
such as housing, health and welfare, there is a similar partnership
between the various levels of government.

42. Within the States there are generally two or more layers
of government. Most States are divided into counties, and areas
of population concentration are incorporated in municipalities
or other forms of local government (cities, towns, townships,
boroughs, parishes or villages). In addition, school districts
and special service districts provide systems of public education
and various other services (for example, water and sewer services,
fire and emergency services, higher education, hospital services,
public transportation). The leaders of the federal, State, county,
municipal and other local Governments are for the most part democratically
elected, although some are appointed by other officials who are
themselves democratically elected. The leaders of special service
districts are likewise either elected or appointed, with election
more common in the case of school districts.

43. The federal Constitution establishes a democratic system
of governance at the federal level and guarantees a republican
system at the State and local levels. Elected at the federal level
are the President, the Vice President, and members of the United
States Senate and House of Representatives. There is considerable
variation in the governmental structures of the States and of
lesser governmental units. From State to State there are large
differences in the number of officials who are elected per unit
of government and in the number of officials elected per capita.
Elected at the State level typically are the governor, a lieutenant
governor, an attorney-general, other leaders of State governmental
departments, members of a bicameral legislature (Nebraska has
a unicameral legislature). In many States, justices of the State
supreme court and judges in various lower courts are also elected.
Elected at the county level typically are members of a county
governing body, a chief executive, a sheriff, a clerk, an auditor,
a coroner, and the like, and minor judicial officials, such as
justices of the peace and constables. Officials elected at the
municipal level usually include a mayor and members of a governing
council, board, or commission. All elections, even those for federal
office, are conducted by the States or their political subdivisions.

44. Officials at all levels are elected at regularly scheduled
elections to terms of fixed duration, usually varying in length
between one and six years. Vacancies are filled either through
special elections or by appointment or by a combination of the
two methods. Elections are conducted by secret ballot.

45. While the Constitution does not establish or regulate political
parties, most federal and State elections are in fact dominated
by two long-established parties: the Democratic Party, the origins
of which may be traced to Thomas Jefferson, who was President
from 1801 to 1809, and the Republican Party, founded in 1854.
Each party is a loose alliance of private organizations formed
at the State and local levels which unite every four years for
the presidential election. While the Democratic Party is generally
considered more liberal and the Republican Party more conservative
in terms of ideology, there are no tests for party registration
and beliefs vary widely across the country. Some Democrats are
more conservative than most Republicans, and some Republicans
are more liberal than most Democrats. Where one party dominates
the local politics, the only truly competitive electoral race
may in fact be an initial, intra-party election of the party's
candidate for office. Particularly during a presidential election,
each party tends to compete for voters with a "moderate"
or centrist ideology, considered to comprise the majority of voters
nationwide. None the less, each party has both a liberal and a
conservative "wing" or group of members.

46. While the United States may generally be said to have a
"two party" system, many Americans consider themselves
"independents" or unaffiliated with either the Democratic
or Republican Party. Currently, one independent holds a seat in
the United States Congress and two independents are State governors.
An independent candidate for President won 18.9 per cent of the
popular vote in the 1992 election.

47. Most elections involve a two-step process. The first (or
"primary") step involves the selection or designation
of a candidate to represent a political party; second, the respective
parties' candidates run against each other and any independent
candidates in a general election. Local and State party organizations
vary widely in the degree to which a voter must demonstrate party
allegiance before participating in the party's nominating methods.
Commonly, "primary" elections are held among a party's
candidates to determine who will be the nominee of that party
for office. Other methods include party caucuses and conventions.
Primary elections usually require a voter to demonstrate at least
a minimal commitment to a particular party; however, the voter
may not be required to register as a member of the party before
voting in that party's primary. On the other hand, party caucuses
and conventions typically require a greater degree of party affiliation
by the voter and may be open only to certain party officials.
Once the parties have designated their candidates for office,
State-run general elections are held. In almost all elections,
voters are permitted to "split" their ballots by, for
example, voting for a Democrat for President and a Republican
for Senator. The result is that at both the federal and State
levels, the individual holding the highest executive office (e.g.
President or Governor) may be of a different political party from
the majority of elected representatives in the legislative branch.

B. Federal government

48. The federal government consists of three branches: the
executive, the legislative and the judicial.

1. The executive branch

49. The executive branch of government is headed by the President,
who under the Constitution must be a natural-born United States
citizen, at least 35 years old, and a resident of the country
for at least 14 years. Candidates for the presidency are chosen
by political parties several months before the presidential election,
which is held every four years (in years divisible evenly by four)
on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

50. The method of electing the President is peculiar to the
United States system. Although the names of the candidates appear
on the ballots, technically the people of each State do not vote
directly for the President and Vice President. Instead, they select
a slate of "presidential electors," equal to the number
of Senators and Representatives each State has in Congress. The
candidate with the highest number of votes in each State wins
all the electoral votes of that State.

51. According to the Constitution, the President must "take
care that the laws be faithfully executed". To carry out
this responsibility, the President presides over the executive
branch of government, with broad powers to manage national affairs
and the workings of the federal government. When authorized by
statute, the President can issue rules, regulations and instructions
called executive orders, which are binding upon federal agencies.
As commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the United States,
the President may also call into federal service the State units
of the National Guard. The Congress may by law grant the President
or federal agencies broad powers to make rules and regulations
under standards set in those laws. In time of war or national
emergency, these grants may be broader than in peacetime.

52. The President chooses the heads of all executive departments
and agencies, together with hundreds of other high-ranking federal
officials. The large majority of federal workers, however, are
selected through the Civil Service system, in which appointment
and promotion are based on ability and experience rather than
political affiliation.

53. Under the Constitution, the President is the federal official
primarily responsible for the relations of the United States with
foreign nations. In this sense the President is both "head
of government" and "head of State". Presidents
appoint ambassadors, ministers and consuls, subject to confirmation
by the Senate, and receives foreign ambassadors and other public
officials. With the Secretary of State, the President manages
all official communication with foreign Governments. On occasion,
the President may personally participate in summit conferences
where heads of government meet for direct consultation.

54. Through the Department of State, the President is responsible
for the protection of United States citizens abroad. Presidents
decide whether to recognize new nations and new governments, and
negotiate treaties with other nations, which are binding on the
United States when approved by two thirds of the Senators present
and voting. The President may also negotiate executive agreements
with foreign powers that are not subject to Senate advice and
consent, based on statutory authority as well as inherent constitutional
powers.

55. Although the Constitution provides that "all legislative
powers" shall be vested in the Congress, the President, as
the chief formulator of public policy, also has a major role in
the legislative process. The President can veto any bill passed
by Congress, and, unless two thirds in each house vote to override
the veto, the bill does not become law. Much of the legislation
dealt with by Congress is drafted at the initiative of the executive
branch. In his annual report (the "State of the Union"
address) and in other special messages to Congress, the President
may propose legislation he believes is necessary. The President
has the power to call the Congress into special session. Furthermore,
the President, as head of a political party and as chief executive
officer of the United States Government, is in a position to influence
public opinion and thereby to influence the course of legislation
in Congress.

56. The President also nominates federal judges, including
Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, subject to
the advice and consent of the Senate. The President has the power
to grant a full or conditional pardon to anyone convicted of breaking
a federal law, except in a case of impeachment. The pardoning
power has come to embrace the authority to shorten prison terms
and reduce fines.

57. The day-to-day enforcement and administration of federal
laws is in the hands of the various executive departments created
by Congress to deal with specific areas of national and international
affairs. The heads of the departments, chosen by the President
and approved by the Senate, form a council of advisers generally
known as the President's Cabinet. The Cabinet is an informal consultative
and advisory body, not provided for by the Constitution. Currently,
the members of the Cabinet include the secretaries of the Departments
of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and
Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor,
State, Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs, as well
as the Attorney-General, who heads the Justice Department. Some
executive departments include major subordinate agencies, such
as the United States Coast Guard and the Federal Aviation Administration
(the Department of Transportation), the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(the Department of Justice), and the Bureau of Indian Affairs
and the National Park Service (the Department of the Interior).

58. In addition to the secretaries of the 14 executive departments,
the chiefs of a number of other governmental organizations are
also considered part of the Cabinet. Currently, these include
the chiefs of the White House staff, the National Security Council,
the Office of Management and Budget, the Council of Economic Advisers,
the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the Environmental
Protection Agency, Drug Control Policy, Domestic Policy Council,
the National Economic Council, and the United States Ambassador
to the United Nations. The Office of the President includes certain
other organizations such as the Office of Science and Technology
and the Office of Environmental Policy.

59. In addition to the executive departments, more than 50
other agencies within the executive branch have important responsibilities
for keeping the government and the economy working. These are
often called independent agencies, as they are technically not
part of the executive departments. Some are regulatory groups,
with powers to supervise certain sectors of the economy, such
as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission and the Interstate Commerce Commission. Others provide
special services, either to the government or to people, such
as the United States Postal Service, the Central Intelligence
Agency, and the Federal Election Commission. In most cases, the
agencies have been created by Congress to deal with matters that
have become too complex for the scope of ordinary legislation.
Among the best known independent agencies are the Peace Corps
and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

60. All together, the executive branch currently employs approximately
3 million civilian personnel.

61. The Department of Defense is responsible for providing
the military forces required to deter war and protect the security
of the United States. The major elements of these forces include
the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force, consisting in September
1993 of approximately 1.7 million active duty personnel. Women
make up 11 per cent of the armed forces, but fewer than 1 per
cent serve in the infantry, in gun crews or aboard ship. Under
the authority of the President, the Secretary of Defense exercises
civilian authority, direction and control over the Department
of Defense, which includes the separately organized departments
of Army, Navy and Air Force, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the unified
and specified combatant commands, and various subordinate agencies
established for specific purposes.

2. The legislative branch

62. The legislative branch of the federal government is the
Congress, which has two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Powers granted Congress under the Constitution include the powers
to levy taxes, borrow money, regulate interstate commerce, declare
war, discipline its own membership, and determine its rules of
procedure. Including related entities such as the Library of Congress,
the General Accounting Office, the Government Printing Office
and the Congressional Budget Office, the legislative branch employs
some 38,000 people.

The Senate

63. Each State elects two senators. Senators must be at least
30 years old, residents of the State from which they are elected,
and citizens of the United States for at least nine years. Each
term of service is for six years, and terms are arranged so that
one third of the members are elected every two years.

64. The Senate has certain powers especially reserved to that
body, including the authority to confirm presidential appointments
of high officials and ambassadors of the federal government, as
well as authority to give its advice and consent to the ratification
of treaties by a two thirds vote.

65. The Constitution provides that the Vice President of the
United States shall be president of the Senate. The Vice President
has no vote, except in the case of a tie. The Senate chooses a
president pro tempore from the majority party to preside
when the Vice President is absent.

The House of Representatives

66. The 435 members of the House of Representatives are chosen
by direct vote of the electorate in each State, with the number
of representatives allotted to each State on the basis of population.
Each representative represents a single congressional district.
Members must be at least 25 years old, residents of the States
from which they are elected, and previously citizens of the United
States for at least seven years. They serve for a two-year period.

67. The House of Representatives chooses its own presiding
officer, the Speaker of the House. The Speaker is always a member
of the political party with the majority in the House.

68. The leaders of the two political parties in each house
of Congress are respectively the majority floor leader and the
minority floor leader; they are helped by party whips who maintain
communication between the leadership and the members of the House.
Legislative proposals (termed "bills" prior to enactment
as "statutes") introduced by members in the House of
Representatives are received by the standing committees which
can amend, expedite, delay, or kill the bills. The committee chairmen
attain their positions on the basis of seniority. Among the most
important House committees are those on Appropriations, Foreign
Affairs, Ways and Means, and Rules.

69. Each house of Congress has the power to introduce legislation
on any subject, except that revenue bills must originate in the
House of Representatives. Each house can vote against legislation
passed by the other house. Often, a conference committee made
up of members from both houses must work out a compromise acceptable
to both houses before a bill becomes law.

The role of committees

70. One of the major characteristics of the Congress is the
dominant role committees play in its proceedings. Committees have
assumed their present-day importance by evolution, not design,
as the Constitution makes no provision for their establishment.
At present, the Senate has 16 standing committees; the House of
Representatives has 22. The Houses share a number of joint committees,
such as the Joint Committee on Taxation, and each also has a number
of special and select committees. Each specializes in specific
areas of legislation and governmental activity, such as foreign
affairs, defence, banking, agriculture, commerce, appropriations
and other fields. Every bill introduced in either house is referred
to a committee for study and recommendation. The committee may
approve, revise, reject or ignore any measure referred to it.
It is nearly impossible for a bill to reach the House or Senate
floor without first winning committee approval. In the House,
a petition to discharge a bill from committee requires the signatures
of 218 members; in the Senate, a majority of all members is required.
In practice, such discharge motions rarely receive the required
support.

71. The majority party in each house controls the committee
process. Committee chairs are selected by a caucus of members
of the majority party in that house or by specially designated
groups of members. Minority parties are proportionately represented
in the committees according to their strength in each house.

72. Bills are developed by a variety of methods. Some are drawn
up by standing committees, some by special committees created
to deal with specific legislative issues, and some are suggested
by the President or other executive branch officers. Citizens
and organizations outside the Congress may suggest legislation
to members, and individual members themselves may initiate bills.
Each bill must be sponsored by at least one member of the house
in which it is introduced. After introduction, bills are sent
to designated committees which may schedule a series of public
hearings to permit presentation of views by persons who support
or oppose the legislation. The hearing process, which can last
several weeks or months, opens the legislative process to public
participation.

73. When a committee has acted favourably on a bill, the proposed
legislation may then be brought to the floor for open debate.
In the Senate, the rules permit virtually unlimited debate. In
the House, because of the large number of members, the Rules Committee
usually sets limits. When debate is ended, members vote to approve
the bill, defeat it, table it (set it aside), or return it to
committee. A bill passed by one house is sent to the other for
action. If the bill is amended by the second house, the bill may
return to the first house for another vote, or a conference committee
composed of members of both houses may attempt to reconcile the
differences.

74. Once passed by both houses, the bill is sent to the President,
who must act on the bill for it to become law. The President generally
has the option of signing the bill, in which case it becomes law,
or vetoing it. A bill vetoed by the President must be reapproved
by a two thirds vote of both houses in order to become law. If
the President refuses either to sign or veto a bill, it becomes
law without his signature 10 days after it reaches him (not including
Sundays). The single exception to this rule is when Congress adjourns
after sending a bill to the President and before the 10-day period
has expired; the President's refusal to take any action then negates
the bill - a process known as the "pocket veto".

Congressional powers of oversight and investigation

75. Among the most important functions of the Congress are
oversight and investigation. Oversight functions include reviewing
the effectiveness of laws already passed and assessing their implementation
by the executive branch, as well as inquiring into the qualifications
and performance of members and officials of the other branches.
In addition, investigations are conducted to gather information
on the need for future legislation. Frequently, committees call
on outside (non-governmental) experts to assist in conducting
investigative hearings and to make detailed studies of issues.

76. There are important corollaries to the powers of oversight
and investigation. One is the power to publicize the proceedings
and their results. Most committee hearings are open to the public
and are widely reported in the mass media. Congressional hearings
thus represent one important tool available to lawmakers to inform
the citizenry and arouse public interest in national issues. A
second power is to compel testimony from unwilling witnesses and
to cite for contempt of Congress witnesses who refuse to testify,
and for perjury those who give false testimony.

3. The judicial branch

77. The third branch of the federal government, the judiciary,
consists of a system of courts headed by the Supreme Court of
the United States and including subordinate courts throughout
the country. The federal judicial power includes cases arising
under the Constitution, laws, and treaties of the United States;
admiralty and maritime cases; cases affecting ambassadors, ministers
and consuls of foreign countries in the United States; controversies
in which the United States Government is a party; and controversies
between States (or their citizens) and foreign nations (or their
citizens and subjects). In practice the vast majority of litigation
in federal courts is based on federal law or involves disputes
between citizens of different States under the courts' "diversity"
jurisdiction.

78. The power of the federal courts extends both to civil actions
for money damages and other forms of redress, and to criminal
cases arising under federal law. Article III of the Constitution
establishes the Supreme Court of the United States and gives Congress
the power to establish other federal courts as needed. Under Article
I, Congress also has the power to establish courts; Article I
courts include territorial courts, certain District of Columbia
courts, courts martial, and legislative courts and administrative
agency adjudicative procedures.

79. The Constitution safeguards judicial independence by providing
that federal judges shall hold office "during good behaviour"
- in practice, until they die, retire, or resign, although a judge
who commits an offence while in office may be impeached in the
same way as the President or other officials of the federal government.
Federal judges are appointed by the President and confirmed by
the Senate. Altogether, there are approximately 1,000 federal
judges, and the federal judiciary employs some 28,000 people.

The Supreme Court

80. The Supreme Court is the highest court of the United States
and the only one specifically created by the Constitution. A decision
of the Supreme Court cannot be appealed to any other court. Congress
has the power to fix the number of judges sitting on the Court
(currently a Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices) and,
within limits, to decide what kind of cases it may hear, but it
cannot change the powers given to the Supreme Court by the Constitution
itself.

81. The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction (i.e. the authority
to hear cases directly rather than on appeal) in only two kinds
of cases: those involving foreign dignitaries, and those in which
a State is a party. All other cases reach the Supreme Court on
appeal from lower federal courts or from the various State courts.
The right of appeal is not automatic in all cases, however, and
the Supreme Court exercises considerable discretion in selecting
the cases it will consider. A significant amount of the work of
the Supreme Court consists of determining whether legislation
or executive acts conform to the Constitution. This power of judicial
review is not expressly provided for by the Constitution. Rather,
it is a doctrine inferred by the Court from its reading of the
Constitution, and stated in the landmark case of Marbury v.
Madison, 5 United States (1 Cranch) 137 (1803). In that case,
the Court held that "a legislative act contrary to the Constitution
is not law", and observed that "it is emphatically the
province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law
is". The doctrine of judicial review also covers the activities
of State and local governments.

82. Decisions of the Court need not be unanimous; a simple
majority prevails, provided at least six Justices participate
in the decision. In split decisions, the Court usually issues
both a majority and a minority or dissenting opinion, both of
which may form the basis for future decisions by the Court. Often
Justices will write separate concurring opinions when they agree
with a decision, but for reasons other than those given by the
majority.

Courts of appeals and district courts

83. The second highest level of the federal judiciary is made
up of the courts of appeals. The United States is currently divided
into 12 appellate circuits, each served by a court of appeals.
The courts of appeals have appellate jurisdiction over decisions
of the district courts (trial courts with federal jurisdiction)
within their respective geographic areas. They are also empowered
to review orders of the independent regulatory agencies, such
as the Federal Trade Commission, in cases where the internal review
mechanisms of the agencies have been exhausted and there still
exists substantial disagreement over legal issues. There is also
a thirteenth court of appeals, which hears appeals from certain
courts with specialized jurisdiction. Approximately 180 judges
sit on the various courts of appeals.

84. Below the courts of appeals are the federal district courts.
The 50 States are divided into 89 districts so that litigants
may have a trial within easy reach. Additionally, there are district
courts in the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, and the territories
of Guam and the Virgin Islands. Congress fixes the boundaries
of the districts according to population, size, and volume of
work. Some States (such as Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho and Vermont)
constitute a district by themselves, while the larger States (such
as New York, California and Texas) have four districts each. In
total, there are approximately 650 federal district judges.

Courts with specialized jurisdiction

85. In addition to the federal courts of general jurisdiction,
it has been necessary from time to time to set up courts for special
purposes. Perhaps the most important of these special courts is
the United States Court of Federal Claims, established in 1855
to render judgment on monetary claims against the United States.
Other special courts include United States Tax Court, the Court
of Veterans Appeals, and the Court of International Trade, which
has exclusive jurisdiction over civil actions involving taxes
or quotas on imported goods.

Military courts

86. A separate system exists for military justice. Members
of the military are subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice
for disciplinary matters. Cases of alleged criminal conduct are
investigated, and when substantiated are resolved, in appropriate
forums ranging from nonjudicial punishment to one of three types
of courts martial. In a trial by court martial, an accused is
accorded the full range of constitutional rights, including representation
by a qualified defense counsel at no charge to the individual.
Any court martial that results in a sentence of confinement for
a year or more, discharge from the service or capital punishment
is automatically reviewed by the relevant court of military review
for the concerned service. Those courts, which are composed of
senior military (and sometimes civilian) attorneys serving as
judges, examine the records of trial for both factual and legal
error. Decisions can be appealed to the court of military appeals,
on which five civilian judges sit. Adverse decisions can be further
reviewed by the Supreme Court of the United States on a discretionary
basis.

Relationship between federal and State courts

87. Over the course of the nation's history, a complex set
of relationships between State and federal courts has arisen.
Ordinarily, federal courts do not hear cases arising under the
laws of individual States. However, some cases over which federal
courts have jurisdiction may also be heard and decided by State
courts. Both court systems thus have exclusive jurisdiction in
some areas and concurrent jurisdiction in others. Taking into
account that there are 50 separate State court systems, which
often include subordinate judicial bodies (e.g., county and city
courts), as well as the judicial systems of the insular areas,
the District of Columbia and other nonstate entities, there are
over 2,000 courts with general jurisdiction and approximately
18,000 judicial districts of either general or limited jurisdiction
in the United States. Many States have large numbers of courts
with very limited jurisdiction, such as New York (which has 2300
town and village justice courts) and Texas (which has approximately
850 municipal courts and 920 justice of the peace courts).

C.The State Governments

88. The governments of the 50 States have structures closely
paralleling those of the federal government, each with a constitution
and executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The State governor
acts as the head of the executive, but not all States bestow the
same amount of power upon their governors; some are quite powerful,
others less so. All State legislatures have two houses, except
Nebraska's, which is unicameral. The size of State legislatures
varies widely; the largest include those in New Hampshire (424
representatives), Pennsylvania (253), and Georgia (236), while
the smallest are found in Nebraska (49) and Alaska (60). Most
State judicial systems mirror the federal system, with lower trial
courts, appellate courts, and a court of last resort. States and
insular areas divide relatively evenly among those that elect
their judges (22), those that appoint judges (16 including the
District of Columbia and four of the insular areas), and those
where judges are initially appointed and subsequently run on a
retention ballot (18 including Guam).

89. The power of State government is vast. Essentially, each
State is a sovereign entity, free to promulgate and enforce policy
and law that pertain exclusively to that State, limited under
the Constitution only to the extent that the relevant authority
has been delegated to the federal government. The power of a State
and its cities and localities to regulate its own general welfare
has traditionally been termed the "police power." Besides
enforcement of criminal laws, the police power encompasses agriculture
and conservation, highway and motor vehicle supervision, public
safety and correction, professional licensing, regulation of intrastate
business and industry, and broad aspects of education, public
health, and welfare. The interpretation of a State's constitution
falls exclusively within the domain of that State's own court
system. Only where there is direct conflict with federal law or
the federal Constitution, or where the federal government has
"pre-empted" the field, can State law be overridden
or invalidated. The retention of most aspects of governmental
authority at the State and local levels generally serves to keep
that authority in the hands of the people.

90. Distribution of authority between the States and the federal
government has historically been among the most basic dynamics
of the federal system. Although the powers of Congress are limited,
and those powers not expressly delegated to the federal government
are reserved to the States or to the people, the twentieth century
has seen increasingly broad judicial interpretation of the national
legislative power. Today there is an abundance of federal legislation,
touching on many areas which 100 years ago would have been exclusively
considered a State concern. One beneficial result of this expansion
of federal authority, especially in the latter half of this century,
has been the increased protection of individual rights and freedoms,
especially in the area of civil and political rights.

D. Other governmental levels

91. A significant number of United States citizens and/or nationals
live in areas outside the 50 States and yet within the political
framework and jurisdiction of the United States. They include
people living in the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Puerto
Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Marianas,
and the remaining islands of the Trust Territory of the Pacific.
The governmental framework in each is largely determined by the
area's historical relationship to the United States and the will
of its residents.

92. The District of Columbia was established at the
founding of the Republic to serve as the home of the nation's
capital outside of any State. In 1783 the Continental Congress
voted to establish a federal city; the specific site was chosen
by President George Washington in 1790. Congress moved to the
District from Philadelphia in 1800, and the District remains the
seat of the federal government today. Originally, Maryland and
Virginia donated land for the District. The land donated by Virginia
was given back in 1845 and the District now covers 179.2 km2 located
on the west central edge of Maryland, along the eastern bank of
the Potomac River. Residents of the District, numbering some 600,000,
are United States citizens and have been entitled to vote in presidential
elections since 1964. Residents elect a delegate to the United
States Congress as well as a mayor and a city council with authority
to levy its own taxes. The United States Congress retains final
authority in a number of important areas, including the District's
laws and budget. Whether the District should be admitted to statehood
remains an issue of active public debate.

93. American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of
the United States, acquired in 1900 and 1904 through Deeds of
Cession executed by its Chiefs, and ratified by Congress in 1929.
Residents are United States nationals who do not vote in federal
elections; they are, however, represented by an elected nonvoting
delegate in the House of Representatives. Fundamental rights are
guaranteed by both the United States Constitution and the territorial
constitution. American Samoa is under the general administrative
supervision of the Department of the Interior; none the less,
American Samoa has been self governing since 1978, with an elected
governor and lieutenant governor and bicameral legislature (Senate
and House of Representatives). American Samoa also has its own
high court and five district courts.

94. Puerto Rico has been a United States territory since
1899 and is currently a self-governing commonwealth freely associated
with the United States. Puerto Ricans have been citizens of the
United States since 1917; however, they cannot vote in presidential
elections. Residents elect the Commonwealth's "resident commissioner"
to the United States House of Representatives. Puerto Rico has
a popularly elected chief executive (governor), a bicameral legislature,
and a judicial branch consisting of a Supreme Court and lesser
courts. There is also a federal district court. The federal government
conducts foreign relations for Puerto Rico and has responsibility
for defence, the post office, customs, and certain agricultural
activities. The future relationship of Puerto Rico and the United
States continues to be a matter of vigorous public debate. Most
recently, in November 1993, through a nonbinding plebiscite, the
citizens of Puerto Rico chose to retain the commonwealth arrangement,
although nearly as much support was voiced for statehood. By comparison,
a small minority of approximately 5 per cent sought independence.

95. The United States Virgin Islands are an unincorporated
territory of the United States. They were acquired from Denmark
in 1917; residents are United States citizens who do not vote
in federal elections. Since 1973, they have been represented by
an elected delegate in the House of Representatives. Residents
elect their chief executives, the governor and lieutenant governor,
as well as the 15 members of their unicameral legislature. There
is a federal judicial district for the United States Virgin Islands,
whose judge is appointed by the United States President.

96. Guam is an unincorporated territory of the United
States, acquired by the United States in 1899 after the Spanish-American
War and administered by the Navy until 1950. Residents of Guam
are United States citizens who do not vote in federal elections;
since 1972, they have been represented by a delegate in the House
of Representatives. The territory is under the general administrative
supervision of the Department of the Interior. The residents elect
their own governor, lieutenant governor, and unicameral legislature.
The district court of Guam operates within jurisdiction very similar
to a United States district court.

97. The Northern Marianas are a self-governing commonwealth
in political union with the United States. Formerly part of the
Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands assigned to the United
States by the United Nations in 1947, the Northern Marianas became
self-governing in 1976. Residents are United States citizens.
They do not participate in federal elections but do vote for their
popularly elected governor, lieutenant governor, and bicameral
legislature. Residents maintain control over domestic affairs;
the United States Government provides for defence and foreign
affairs. The Northern Marianas adopted this governmental form
in a United Nations referendum in 1975.

98. Two other areas formerly encompassed within the Trust Territory
of the Pacific Islands include the Federated States of Micronesia,
a federation including Pohnpei, Kosrae, Chuuk and Yap, and the
Republic of the Marshall Islands. Both are now independent, sovereign
nations in free association with the United States. The sole remaining
entity of the Trust Territory is the Republic of Palau,
consisting of 200 islands in the Caroline Island chain. The majority
of the population of 15,000 lives on the main island of Koror.
Palau has been self-governing since the adoption of its constitution
in 1980. In November 1993 the citizens of Palau ratified a compact
of free association negotiated with the United States in 1986,
which should soon lead to the termination of the Trusteeship and
independence for Palau.

III. GENERAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE PROTECTION
OF HUMAN RIGHTS

A. Legal framework

99. The essential guarantees of human rights and fundamental
freedoms within the United States are set forth in the Constitution
and statutes of the United States, as well as the constitutions
and statutes of the several States and other constituent units.
In practice, the enforcement of these guarantees ultimately depends
on the existence of an independent judiciary with the power to
invalidate acts by the other branches of government which conflict
with those guarantees. Maintenance of a republican form of government
with vigorous democratic traditions, popularly elected executives
and legislatures, and the deep-rooted legal protection of freedoms
of opinion, expression and the press, all contribute to the protection
of fundamental rights against governmental limitation and encroachment.

United States Constitution

100. Since the Constitution was ratified in 1789, there have
been 27 amendments to it. Amending the Constitution requires approval
by two thirds of the Congress, or by a national convention, followed
by ratification by three quarters of the States. The first 10
amendments, known collectively as the Bill of Rights, were added
in 1791. These amendments provide for the basic protection of
those individual rights which are fundamental to the democratic
system of government. They remain at the heart of the United States
legal system today, just as they were written two centuries ago,
although the specific rights they guarantee have been extensively
elaborated by the judiciary over the course of time. Individuals
may assert these rights against the government in judicial proceedings.

101. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of worship, speech
and press, the right of peaceful assembly, and the right to petition
the government to correct wrongs. The Second Amendment restricts
the federal government from infringing on the right of citizens
to keep and bear arms, bearing in mind the necessity for a "well
regulated militia". The Third Amendment provides that troops
may not be quartered in a private home without the owner's consent.
The Fourth Amendment guards against unreasonable searches, arrests
and seizures of persons and property.

102. The next four amendments deal with the system of justice.
The Fifth Amendment forbids trial for a major crime except after
indictment by a grand jury; it prohibits repeated trials for the
same offence, forbids punishment without due process of law, and
provides that an accused person may not be compelled to testify
against him or herself. The Sixth Amendment guarantees a speedy
public trial for criminal offences; it requires trial by an unbiased
jury, guarantees the right to legal counsel for the accused, and
provides that witnesses shall be compelled to attend the trial
and testify in the presence of the accused. The Seventh Amendment
assures trial by jury in civil cases involving anything valued
at more than 20 United States dollars. The Eighth Amendment forbids
excessive bail or fines, and cruel or unusual punishment.

103. The last 2 of the first 10 amendments contain very broad
statements of constitutional authority. The Ninth Amendment declares
that the listing of individual rights is not meant to be comprehensive,
and that the people have other rights not specifically mentioned
in the Constitution. Importantly, the Tenth Amendment provides
that powers not delegated by the Constitution to the federal government,
nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States
or the people.

104. Amendments to the Constitution subsequent to the original
Bill of Rights cover a wide range of subjects. One of the most
far-reaching is the Fourteenth Amendment, by which a clear and
simple definition of citizenship was established and broadened
guarantees of due process, equal treatment, and equal protection
of the law were confirmed. In essence, this amendment, adopted
in 1868, has been interpreted to apply the protections of the
Bill of Rights to the States. By other amendments, the judicial
power of the national government was limited; the method of electing
the president was changed; slavery was forbidden; the right to
vote was protected against denial because of race, colour, sex
or previous condition of servitude; the congressional power to
levy taxes was extended to incomes; and the election of United
States Senators by popular vote was instituted.

105. The Constitution provides explicitly that it is the "supreme
Law of the Land". This clause is taken to mean that when
State constitutions or laws passed by State legislatures or laws
adopted by the federal government are found to conflict with the
Constitution, they have no force or effect. Decisions handed down
by the Supreme Court of the United States and subordinate federal
courts over the course of two centuries have confirmed and strengthened
this doctrine of constitutional supremacy.

State constitutions

106. As indicated above, the protections provided by the federal
Constitution and statutes are applicable nationwide, generally
providing a minimum standard of guarantees for all persons in
the United States. While the law of individual States may therefore
offer citizens no less than the protection guaranteed by the Constitution,
States may offer greater protection of civil and political rights.
During the most intense period of civil and political rights advancement
during the past three decades, the federal courts were largely
at the forefront. Accordingly, State courts were called upon less
frequently to rule on civil rights issues. Gradually, however,
some State courts were presented with State constitutional questions
regarding human rights and in many cases found that State constitutions
provided greater protection than the federal Constitution required.
While the extent to which State courts may interpret their constitutions
more expansively than the federal Constitution is not settled,
the Supreme Court has in fact upheld a State court determination
that the right to freedom of expression and petition accorded
by the State constitution was broader than the federal First Amendment
right. Prune Yard Shopping Center v. Robins, 447 United
States 74 (1980) (upholding the California Supreme Court in Robins
v. Prune Yard Shopping Center, 592 P.2d 341 (Cal. 1979)).

107. State courts have interpreted their constitutions more
expansively than the federal Constitution in a number of areas,
including free speech, religious liberty, the provision of government
services, and the right to privacy in the home. State constitutions
vary widely in length, detail, and similarity to the United States
Constitution. As a result, a State court decision, while it may
expand upon a right protected by the United States Constitution,
may rest on grounds very different from those upon which a similar
federal case would be decided.

108. With regard to religious liberty and separation of church
and State, both Idaho and Nebraska are examples where the State
constitution has been found to require a more rigorous separation
of church and State than the First Amendment requires. Based on
the State constitution's broad prohibition of governmental assistance
to an institution not owned by the State, the Supreme Court of
Nebraska found unconstitutional a statute under which public school
books were loaned to parochial schools; on similar grounds, the
Supreme Court of Idaho struck down a statute authorizing publicly
provided transportation of students to nonpublic schools. Gaffney
v. State Department of Education, 220 N.W.2d 550 (Neb. 1974);
Epeldi v. Engelking, 488 P.2d 860 (Id. 1971). While the
United States Supreme Court has ruled that the display of a nativity
scene on public property did not violate the Establishment Clause,
the California Supreme Court has none the less held that the State
constitution's ban on preference for religious sects prohibited
the display of a lighted cross on public grounds in celebration
of Christmas and Easter. Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 United
States 668 (1984); Fox v. City of Los Angeles, 587 P.2d
663 (Cal. 1978).

109. State courts have also interpreted a State right to equal
access to government benefits more broadly than the Supreme Court
has interpreted a similar federal right. In 1980, the United States
Supreme Court held that while women have a right to choose an
abortion, they do not have a federal right to financial support
and federal health benefits for obtaining an abortion. Harris
v. McRae, 448 United States 297 (1980). The Massachusetts
Supreme Judicial Court, in contrast, has held that under the Massachusetts
Declaration of Rights, once the State has allocated public funds
for child-bearing and health in general, the State must show "genuine
indifference" in that allocation and consequently fund abortions
as well. Moe v. Secretary of Administration, 417 N.E.2d
387 (Mass. 1981).

110. Similarly, State courts have found that the right to privacy
under State law may be far broader than that guaranteed by the
penumbra of privacy rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution,
as determined by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court of Alaska,
for example, has found a right to use marijuana in the home to
be within the State constitution's privacy provisions. SeeBreese v. State, 501 P.2d 159 (Alas. 1972).

111. Despite these examples, State courts are not uniform in
their willingness to find greater protections within the State
constitutions than those guaranteed by the federal Government.
Termed "judicial federalism", the practice at times
has been sharply criticized as an ineffective method for protecting
individual rights.

Statutes

112. There is no single statute or mechanism by which basic
human rights and fundamental freedoms are guaranteed or enforced
in the United States legal system. Rather, domestic law provides
extensive protection through enforcement of the constitutional
provisions cited above and a variety of statutes which typically
provide for judicial and/or administrative remedies.

113. At the federal level, for example, the constitutional
protection afforded by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment against discrimination by the State governments on the
basis of race, colour or national origin has been applied to the
federal Government through the Fifth Amendment. It has also been
supplemented by a number of specific federal statutes, including
the 1866 and 1871 Civil Rights Acts (protecting property rights,
freedom to contract, and providing federal remedies for private
individuals subjected to unlawful discrimination by persons acting
"under colour of law"), the 1964 Civil Rights Act (ensuring
equal treatment in places of public accommodation, non-discrimination
in federally funded programmes, and non-discrimination in employment),
the 1965 Voting Rights Act (invalidating discriminatory voter
qualifications), and the 1968 Fair Housing Act (providing the
right to be free from discrimination in housing). Similarly, in
the area of gender discrimination, individuals benefit from the
protections of the Equal Protection Clause, the 1963 Equal Pay
Act (equal pay for equal work), the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (non-discrimination
in hiring and employment practices and policies), the Education
Amendments of 1972 (assuring gender equality in education), the
Equal Credit Opportunity Act (equal access and non-discrimination
in credit and lending), the Fair Housing Act (non-discrimination
in housing, real estate and brokerage), and the Pregnancy Discrimination
Act of 1978. Protection against age discrimination is provided
by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (prohibiting
discrimination in employment against workers or applicants 40
years of age or older). The Civil Rights of Institutionalized
Persons Act of 1980 provides protection to mentally disabled persons
in State facilities. Although disabled persons have long been
protected against discrimination in the federal service, an important
and much broader set of protections was recently added with the
enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which
prohibits discrimination against disabled individuals in employment,
public accommodations, State and local government services, and
public transportation. The Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 imposes
upon tribes such basic requirements as free speech protection,
free exercise of religion, due process and equal protection.

114. Most States and large cities have adopted their own statutory
and administrative schemes for protecting and promoting basic
rights and freedoms. For the most part, State statutory protections
mirror those provided by the United States Constitution and federal
law. Typically, State constitutions and statutes protect individuals
from discrimination in housing, employment, accommodations, credit
and education. For example, Minnesota's statute prohibits discrimination
in sales, rentals or lease of housing. Minn. Stat. 363.03 (1992).
Massachusetts makes it unlawful to refuse to hire or to discharge
someone from employment on discriminatory grounds, or to discriminate
in education. Mass. Ann. Laws ch. 151B, 4; ch. 151C, 1 (1993).
California requires that all persons be "free and equal"
in accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges and services
of business establishments. Cal. Civ. Code 51 (1993). Texas prohibits
discrimination in credit or loans. Texas Revised Civil Statutes
Annotated art. 5069-207 (1993).

116. Neither the Constitution nor the laws of the United States
provide for the declaration of a general state of emergency entailing
suspension of the normal operations of the Government or permitting
derogations from fundamental rights. On the contrary, the basic
requirement for a republican form of government, the general functions
of the three branches of the federal Government, and most of the
fundamental civil and political rights enjoyed by individuals,
are all enshrined in the Constitution and thus remain in effect
at all times, even during crisis situations.

117. The one exception to this rule concerns the privilege
of the writ of habeas corpus. Article I, 9, cl. 2 of the Constitution
states that the privilege shall not be suspended, "unless
when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require
it". Congress is considered to hold the authority to suspend
the privilege; President Lincoln suspended the privilege during
the Civil War but sought congressional authorization for his actions.
Ex Parte Bollman, 8 U.S. (4 Cranch) 74, 101 (1807); Ex
Parte Merryman, 17 Fed. Cas. 144 (No. 9487) (C.C.D. Md. 1861)
(Circuit Justice Taney found Lincoln's action invalid). The privilege
has been suspended only three other times, each pursuant to an
act of Congress.

118. At the national level, there is a general statutory prohibition
against the use of the armed forces for domestic law enforcement
purposes. However, the President is authorized in limited circumstances
to order the use of federal troops to assist State and local authorities
in controlling violence and to suppress insurrections and enforce
federal law. The President may also declare an emergency with
respect to catastrophic domestic situations (for example, in the
event of an earthquake, a hurricane, flooding or a drought), thus
permitting the federal Government to provide disaster relief and
emergency assistance to State and local governments and to the
individual victims of the crisis. These laws do not, however,
permit the executive branch to interfere with the responsibilities
of the legislative or judicial branches of the federal Government
or to arrogate the authority of the States.

119. Other statutes permit the President to declare national
emergencies with respect to foreign affairs and international
economic transactions (thus providing a basis, for example, for
implementation of international sanctions imposed by the United
Nations Security Council or other competent international authority).
While these laws permit the imposition of civil and criminal penalties
for prohibited activities, they remain subject to constitutional
limitations and do not circumscribe basic human rights or permit
interference in the normal functioning of the Government.

120. Under State and local law, the responsible authorities
(State governors, city mayors, county executives) are typically
permitted to take a wide range of emergency actions pursuant to
the general "police power" in order to respond to emergencies
(for example, by imposing curfews in cases of civil unrest, establishing
quarantines in response to public health concerns, and restricting
water usage in the event of drought). While the "police power"
is reserved to the States under the Constitution, actions taken
pursuant to it may not limit or infringe upon federally protected
rights. Individuals thus retain their constitutional protections
and human rights at all times and may challenge the exercise of
emergency authority in the courts. As a general rule, the exercise
of emergency authority by the Government - at any level - is given
particularly careful judicial scrutiny when it infringes upon
individual rights and liberties. In several notable cases, the
United States Supreme Court has invalidated presidential actions
taken in emergency situations.

B. Responsible authorities

121. Within the federal Government, all three branches share
responsibility for the protection and promotion of fundamental
rights under the Constitution and the statutes of the United States.
The President is responsible for enforcing the law. Within the
Department of Justice, the Civil Rights Division bears principal
responsibility for the effective enforcement of federal civil
rights laws. These include the various civil rights acts mentioned
above as well as specific criminal statutes prohibiting wilful
deprivation of constitutional rights by officials acting with
actual or apparent legal authority or through conspiracy, involuntary
servitude, and violent interference with federally protected activities.
In addition, most other agencies have civil rights sections charged
with enforcing civil rights issues within their scope of authority.

122. The United States Commission on Civil Rights, a statutorily
established independent agency within the executive branch, collects
and studies information on discrimination or denials of equal
protection of the laws because of race, colour, religion, sex,
age, handicap, national origin or in the administration of justice
in such areas as voting rights, enforcement of civil rights laws,
and equality of opportunity in education, employment and housing.
It also evaluates federal laws and the effectiveness of governmental
equal opportunity programmes and serves as a clearing house for
civil rights information. The Commission makes findings of fact
and recommendations for the President and the Congress but has
no independent enforcement authority.

123. The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,
also an independent agency within the executive branch, works
to eliminate discrimination based on race, colour, religion, sex,
national origin, disability or age in all aspects of the employment
relationship. The Commission conducts investigations of alleged
discrimination, makes determinations based on gathered evidence,
attempts conciliation when discrimination has occurred, files
lawsuits, and conducts voluntary assistance programmes for employers,
unions and community organizations. The Commission has oversight
responsibility for all compliance and enforcement activities relating
to equal employment opportunity among federal employees and applicants,
including discrimination against individuals with disabilities.

124. At the State and local levels, a variety of schemes and
mechanisms exist to protect and promote basic rights. At the State
level, enforcement responsibility is typically found in the Attorney-General's
Office or in separate civil or human rights offices within the
State government or at the county level. Examples include the
Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, the Illinois
Department of Human Rights, the Cook County (Illinois) Human Rights
Commission, the California Fair Employment and Housing Department,
and the Texas Commission on Human Rights. Many large city governments
have also established offices or commissions to address civil
rights and discrimination issues. These organizations vary. Some
emphasize enforcement of housing and employment anti-discrimination
laws. Others facilitate community development and strategies to
address human rights issues. Examples include the Boston (Massachusetts)
Human Rights Commission, the Chicago (Illinois) Commission on
Human Relations, the Los Angeles (California) Human Relations
Commission, and the Austin (Texas) Human Rights Commission.

125. Non-governmental organizations also play an important
role in ensuring the protection and promotion of human rights
within the United States. Professional groups such as the American
Bar Association and the various State and local bar associations
provide legal expertise as well as forums for the development
of considered positions on legal developments and matters of human
rights concern. A number of organizations devoted primarily to
human rights, including among many others the NAACP Legal Defense
and Education Fund, The Mexican-American Legal Defense Fund, the
National Council of La Raza, Amnesty International, Human Rights
Watch, the Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights, and the International
Human Rights Law Group, are active participants at the national
level. Many church and religious groups, as well as organizations
representing particular constituencies with particular human rights
concerns (such as women, children, the disabled, the indigenous)
are actively involved in the consideration and application of
laws relating to their constituencies.

C. Remedies

126. United States law provides extensive remedies and avenues
for seeking redress for alleged violations of basic rights and
fundamental freedoms. The principal method, if administrative
remedies are insufficient to produce the desired result, is through
recourse to court. A person claiming to have been denied a constitutionally
protected right may assert that right directly in a judicial proceeding
in State or federal court. In addition, in instances involving
"State action" or actions "under colour of State
law", the injured party may seek civil damages and injunctive
relief against the individual responsible for the denial of rights
under the Civil Rights Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. 1983. Federal officials
may be sued for damages directly under provisions of the Constitution,
subject only to various doctrines of immunity from liability.

127. Many federal statutes specifically provide for enforcement
through administrative procedures or by civil actions filed in
court. All States have judicial procedures by which official action
may be challenged, though the procedure may go by various names
(such as "petition for review").

128. Where Congress has so provided, the federal Government
may bring civil actions to enjoin acts or patterns of conduct
that violate some constitutional rights. This is the case, for
example, under the principal civil rights acts discussed above.
Thus, the Attorney-General can sue under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized
Persons Act to vindicate the rights of persons involuntarily committed
to prisons, jails, hospitals, and institutions for the mentally
retarded. Similarly, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 authorizes
the Attorney-General to bring suit to vindicate the right to vote
without discrimination based on race. The federal Government may
also prosecute criminally the violations of some civil rights,
for example, the denial of due process through the abuse of police
power and conspiracies to deny civil rights. The Government may
also bring criminal prosecutions against defendants for use of
force or threat of force to violate a person's rights.

129. Any person prosecuted under a statute or in conjunction
with a governmental scheme (such as jury selection) which he or
she believes to be unconstitutional may challenge that statute
as part of the defence. This may be done in the context of federal
or State prosecutions. Even in civil actions, the defendant may
pose a constitutional challenge to the statute that forms the
basis of the suit. Any court, from the lowest to the United States
Supreme Court, may consider such a claim of unconstitutionality,
though normally it must be raised at the earliest opportunity
to be considered at all. Detention pursuant to a statute believed
to be unconstitutional or as a result of a procedure that allegedly
violated a constitutional right may also be challenged by a writ
of habeas corpus in State and/or federal court. To a limited degree,
post-conviction relief is also available by State and federal
writs of habeas corpus or, in the case of federal convictions,
by a motion for relief from a sentence. All States have similar
remedies as part of their criminal procedure.

D. Human rights instruments

Multilateral treaties

130. The United States is at present party to the following
multilateral human rights instruments:

Slavery Convention and its amending Protocol;

Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave
Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery;

Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees;

Inter-American Convention on the Granting of Political Rights
to Women;

Convention on the Political Rights of Women;

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide;

ILO Convention No. 105 concerning the Abolition of Forced Labour;

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

131. In addition, the United States is moving actively to ratify
three other treaties:

Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment, to which the Senate gave advice and consent
to ratification in 1990;

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination, signed by the United States in 1966, and
given advice and consent to ratification in 1994;

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women.

132. Moreover, the United States has signed but not yet ratified
the following multilateral human rights treaties:

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;

American Convention on Human Rights.

133. In addition, the United States has entered into many bilateral
treaties (including consular treaties and treaties of friendship,
commerce and navigation) which contain provisions guaranteeing
various rights and protections to nationals of foreign countries
on a reciprocal basis. In some cases, these may be invoked directly
in United States courts for that purpose.

Treaties as law

134. Under the Constitution, duly ratified treaties are the
supreme law of the land, equal with enacted federal statutes.
Accordingly, they displace previously adopted federal law and
may be displaced by subsequently adopted federal law to the extent
of any inconsistency. As federal law, they also prevail over inconsistent
State and local law. Where they touch on matters previously within
the purview of State and local government (as opposed to the federal
Government), they may also serve to "federalize" the
issue, thus affecting the allocation of authority between the
States and the central Government.

135. Historically, the prospect that the constitutional treaty
power could be used to override or invalidate State and local
law generated considerable domestic political controversy, especially
when it concerned individual rights. Although it has been recognized
that Congress may act under the treaty power when it might not
otherwise have the authority to do so (seeMissouri
v. Holland, 252 U.S. 416 (1920)), reliance upon that power
to legislate changes in State and local law has been considered
by some to be an interference with the rights of the constituent
States reserved to them under the Constitution. Consequently,
the expectation has been that any changes to United States law
required by treaty ratification will be accomplished in the ordinary
legislative process.

136. Also, as a matter of domestic law, treaties as well as
statutes must conform to the requirements of the Constitution;
no treaty provision will be given effect as United States law
if it conflicts with the Constitution. Reid v. Covert,
354 U.S. 1 (1957). Thus, the United States is unable to accept
a treaty obligation which limits constitutionally protected rights,
as in the case of article 20 of the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, which infringes upon freedom of speech
and association guaranteed under the First Amendment to the Constitution.

137. Consequently, in giving advice and consent to ratification
of a treaty concerning the rights of individuals, Congress must
give careful consideration to the specific provisions of the treaty
and to the question of consistency with existing State and federal
law, both constitutional and statutory. When elements or clauses
of a treaty conflict with the Constitution, it is necessary for
the United States to take reservations to those elements or clauses,
simply because neither the President nor Congress has the power
to override the Constitution. In some cases, it has been considered
necessary for the United States to state its understanding of
a particular provision or undertaking in a treaty, or to make
a declaration of how it intends to apply that provision or undertaking.

Implementation

138. In the United States system, a treaty may be "self-executing",
in which case it may properly be invoked by private parties in
litigation without any implementing legislation, or "non-self-executing",
in which case its provisions cannot be directly enforced by the
judiciary in the absence of implementing legislation. This distinction
derives from the Supreme Court's interpretation of article VI,
cl. 2, of the Constitution. The distinction is one of domestic
law only; in either case, the treaty remains binding on the United
States as a matter of international law. Thus, in the case of
human rights treaties, a "non-self-executing" treaty
does not, in and of itself, accord individuals a right to seek
enforcement of its protections in a domestic court, even though
the United States continues to be bound to recognize those protections.

139. So long as it complies with its undertakings and responsibilities
under duly ratified treaties, the United States considers that
it remains generally free to determine the specific modalities
of treaty implementation under domestic law. In other words, unless
it has specifically agreed to make the provisions of a given treaty
part of the judicially enforceable body of domestic law, the United
States may follow the alternatives available to it under its own
law for implementing treaty obligations in domestic law.

140. When necessary to carry out its treaty obligations, the
United States generally enacts implementing legislation rather
than relying on a treaty to be "self-executing". Thus,
for example, to implement the Genocide Convention, the United
States Congress adopted the Genocide Convention Implementation
Act of 1987, codified at 18 U.S.C. 1091-93. When such legislation
is required, the United States will not deposit its instrument
of ratification until the necessary legislation has been enacted.
It is for this reason, for example, that the United States has
refrained from depositing its instrument of ratification for the
Torture Convention, even though the Senate gave its advice and
consent to ratification of that treaty in 1990. Implementing legislation
was only approved by the Congress and enacted by the President
in May 1994.

141. However, the United States does not believe it necessary
to adopt implementing legislation when domestic law already makes
adequate provision for the requirements of the treaty. Again,
the Torture Convention provides a case in point. While final ratification
awaited enactment of legislation giving United States courts criminal
jurisdiction over extraterritorial acts of torture which had not
previously been covered by United States law, no new implementing
legislation was proposed with respect to torture within the United
States because United States law at all levels already prohibited
acts of torture within the meaning of the Convention. Similarly,
because the basic rights and fundamental freedoms guaranteed by
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (other
than those to which the United States took a reservation) have
long been protected as a matter of federal constitutional and
statutory law, it was not considered necessary to adopt special
implementing legislation to give effect to the Covenant's provisions
in domestic law. That important human rights treaty was accordingly
ratified in 1992 shortly after the Senate gave its advice and
consent.

IV. INFORMATION AND PUBLICITY

142. Information concerning human rights treaties is readily
available to any interested person in the United States. All treaties,
including human rights treaties, to which the United States is
a party are published by the federal Government, first in the
Treaties and International Agreements Series (TIAS) and thereafter
in the multi-volume United States Treaties (UST) series. Annually,
the Department of State publishes a comprehensive listing of all
treaties to which the United States is a party, known as Treaties
in Force (TIF). The constitutional requirement that the Senate
give advice and consent to ratification of all treaties ensures
that there is a public record of its consideration, typically
including a formal transmission of the treaty from the President
to the Senate, a record of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's
public hearing and the Committee's report to the full Senate,
together with the action of the Senate itself.

143. The texts of all human rights treaties (whether or not
the United States has ratified) can also be readily obtained from
the Government or virtually any public or private library, as
they have been published in numerous non-governmental compilations
and are also available in major computerized databases. The United
Nations Compilation of International Instruments on Human Rights
(ST/HR/1) is also widely available.

144. Although there is no national educational curriculum in
the United States, instruction in fundamental constitutional,
civil and political rights occurs throughout the educational system,
from grammar and secondary school, through the college and university
levels. Most institutions of higher education, public and private,
include courses on constitutional law in their departments of
political science or government. Constitutional law is a required
subject in law school curricula, and most law schools now offer
advanced or specialized instruction in the area of civil and political
rights, non-discrimination law and related fields. Nearly every
law school curriculum includes instruction in international law
including basic human rights law. Several textbooks have been
published in the field, including documentary supplements which
contain the texts of the more significant human rights instruments.
The numerous non-governmental human rights advocacy groups in
the United States, which operate freely, also contribute to public
awareness and understanding of domestic and international rights
and norms.

145. With particular respect to the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights, the original transmittal of the
treaty to the Senate was published in 1978 (Message from the President
of the United States Transmitting Four Treaties Pertaining to
Human Rights, 95th Cong., 2d Sess., Exec. E, 23 Feb. 1978). The
record of Senate consideration has also been published (see Hearing
before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, 102d Cong.,
1st Sess., 21 Nov. 1991, S. Hrg. 102-478; Report of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, Exec. Rept. 102-23, 24 March 1992;
102 Cong. Rec. S4781-4784 (daily ed. 2 April 1992). The full text
of the treaty has also been published in the official journal
of the federal Government (see 58 Federal Register 45934-45942,
No. 167, 31 Aug. 1993). Copies of the Covenant have also been
sent to the attorneys-general of each State and constituent unit
in the United States, with a request that they be further

distributed to relevant officials. The fact of United States
ratification and the text of the treaty have also been brought
to the attention of State bar associations. Governmental officials
have participated in a number of presentations at academic and
professional meetings to highlight the significance of United
States ratification.

146. Finally, the advice and input of various non-governmental
organizations and other human rights professionals was sought
and considered during the preparation of this report, and the
report will be given wide distribution to the public and through
interested groups such as the bar associations and human rights
organizations.